Slot Paylines are the horizontal lines, which start from the leftmost reel to the rightmost reel. The winning combinations have to line up along these lines for the player to win the slots game.
The Modern Slot Machines vs the Mechanical Slot Machines.
The traditional fruit machines and the one-armed bandits featured three reels with only one pay line. These old slot machines are still widely popular on both land-based and online casinos. The slots are the most basic ones among the currently available pay lines.
On the other hand, modern slot games gave birth to the multi-line paylines. The slot games are run by computer software and may feature up to 100 pay lines across seven or five reels. More advanced video slot machines are even able to run 9 to 243 different pay lines. Similar to the fruit machines, the winning combination is met by matching the symbols. The pay lines here are able to run on the reels in various ways. There are pay lines that lay straight across all the reels and can also run diagonally, vertically, horizontally or zigzag across the reels. Spinning the reals will, therefore, offer you potentially multiple winning combinations through hundreds of various pay lines.
Winnings on every spin are piled up and eventually added to your bankroll, so this gives you an opportunity to be able to win huge amounts if you hit several pay lines. However, you should note that the higher the number of lines you play, the higher the cost of each spin.
The slot Paylines can go in any direction you can imagine. Whichever the direction they line up in, the number of symbols the pay lines will cross will always match that of the reels in the game. In the three-reel game, for example, all the pay lines shall cross three symbols, the five-reel game will have pay lines crossing five symbols and so on. This means that pay lines take only one symbol from every reel but excludes the vertical lines that remain in single reels.
How the Bets are Placed
You have to carefully consider how betting on pay lines works before attempting to play online. Playing with some knowledge will determine the strength of your bankroll, wins and how much you`ll enjoy playing. Basically, every line is categorized as a separate bet.
It is possible for you to place bets on specific pay lines with one or more coins. Using multiple coins will enable activation of multiple pay lines in the same spin. However, it`s not all the time that the pay lines will be activated. Only the mid horizontal pay line will be active when playing one coin.
At most times, you will find it necessary to place the max bet because there is the possibility to put in additional coins which allow for extra or all pay lines. This strategy offers the greatest chances of finding a winning combination. Regardless of how you play, if you fail to place a bet on either of the pay lines and those symbols line up with the misplaced bet in the winning combination, you win nothing.
Some slot machines are fixed, meaning you must play the whole number of lines. Nonetheless, if you are used to playing the maximum bet, you will find it fun with such machines. Some of the lines are adjustable, so you can select the number of pay lines you wish to play as well as the amount you are willing to bet on every line. Fewer pay lines, fewer chances of winning, but less cost on each spin. The most important thing to always keep in mind is to check the number of pay lines available in a machine while considering the number you wish to play. The pay table can help with this.
Wild Symbols and their Purpose in the Bet
Wild symbols can be used in combination with any of the common symbols on a reel to create winning combinations and prizes. A wild symbol can substitute all the other symbols appearing on the reels and complete the winning pay lines that would have resulted in a loss. The only place the wild cant work like this is when there are scatter and free spin symbols among others bonus symbols. Some slots have the wild symbol as the most valuable symbol while others combine it with others to make it powerful.
The wilds randomly appear on the reels while they only appear in specific reels in some games. There is usually a standard wild symbol, but various slots feature various special ones with specific powers on the game. Here is how most of them work:
Expanding wilds will grow to fill up a whole reel. This will make every spot wild from top to bottom.
The sticky wild symbols will “stick” in place over many spins, hence increasing the chances of completing more pay lines.
The shifting wilds are like the sticky ones but do not stay in one place. They move horizontally over the reels with every spin until they fade off the final reel.
The stacked wilds appear on top of each other on one reel, usually filling up the whole reel.
Tips to Keep in Mind
You should note that all slot machines work similarly though they might look different. It`s only the theme used that makes the difference. However, the pay lines will differ in various slot machines and this is why you have to check the pay table to understand how the payout and paylines of a specific machine work.
You also have to check if you have matched a pay line. When doing this, note that the pay lines of most slot machines usually start on the left-hand reel and move towards the right-hand reel. In the case that you do not get a payout but you have winning symbols on the screen, remember to check if the symbols started on the leftmost reel. A payout will only fail if the symbols fail to land in the right place when they start on the next reel over. There are, however, some slots that will pay the winning combination irrespective of the direction. In such slots, the payout may only fail if the symbols fail to line up.